


The Mutual Killing Game

by JayJayNiichan



Category: Dangan Ronpa, おそ松さん | Osomatsu-san (Anime)
Genre: Gen, SO GUESS HOW MESSED UP I AM, dares you to make a crossover full of despair, idk im not gonna tag spoilers but its a danganronpa crossover so people are gonna die, only the guy from the christmas couple is actually a part of the game, this is what happens when your best friend
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-10-27
Updated: 2017-05-24
Packaged: 2018-08-27 09:45:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 8
Words: 6,840
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8396884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JayJayNiichan/pseuds/JayJayNiichan
Summary: No one knew what to expect when they first stepped into this paradise but it certainly wasn't despair.





	1. Prologue

Osomatsu had been beyond excited to finally go on another family vacation. The Matsuno family had been unable to go in ages and everyone was simply ecstatic to be able to get away from the city for a while. The best part was that their parents were letting the brothers go on the vacation by themselves while they took their own vacation which seemed just perfect for everyone! They had been planning this trip for weeks and spent hours trapped together in a van for the drive there. It all seemed to be paying off when they finally pulled up to the hotel where they had planned their stay and piled out of the car.

 

The resort was absolutely beautiful, straight out of a post card if you asked Osomatsu. The ocean just peeked up from the beach past the hotel and there were palm trees everywhere, if Osomatsu didn’t know any better, he would have assumed they’d all been taken to Hawaii somehow. It was like a tropical paradise and no one could wait to get started! The lobby inside looked just as good. Practically decorated to look like a castle, the only things missing were swords and a moat outside. Too fancy for Osomatsu’s taste, while Karamatsu simply seemed to be eating it up. It even had a chandelier!

 

However, Osomatsu was sure he hadn’t even taken five steps in when he felt himself becoming nauseated and dizzy, his vision was starting to fail as well. He chanced a glance at everyone else and they all seemed to be having the same reaction. He didn’t know what to do. __What the fuck is going on?! What’s happening?! I-I have to protect them!__  These thoughts and more passed through Osomatsu’s mind as he struggled to stay on his feet.

 

Jyushimatsu, and Ichimatsu had already fallen to the ground in heaps as whatever had gotten into their systems knocked them all out one by one. It wasn’t long until Osomatsu had hit the ground as well, all of his muscles going weak as he tried to push himself up off the ground.

 

He wasn’t sure what had happened to any of them at that point, but it would only be later that he discovered that they were on a one-way ticket to despair.

 

And there was nothing he could do about it.


	2. Chapter 1: The Reunion

When Osomatsu finally came to, he wasn’t sure where he was, or what he was laying on, but he knew it was soft. Really soft actually. He slowly sat up, rubbing his head in the process and surveyed his surroundings. He was in a rather luxurious looking hotel room. Five star if he had to take a guess. Besides the king-sized bed there was also a dresser to store his things and what seemed like a walk-in bathroom. Everything looked really expensive though, he almost felt like a king!

 

Almost.

 

He still needed to find out just what in the hell had happened. And he needed to find the others! Shit! Were they okay?! Without thinking twice he launched himself off of the bed and towards the door, just managing to grab the key off of the desk before dashing out into the hallway.

 

In the process he failed to notice the girl who had already been there and plowed straight into her, sending them both to the ground in a heap. He quickly jumped back up and helped her to her feet when he finally realized who it was.

 

“No way! It’s you! You’re the girl Jyushimatsu had a crush on! I can’t believe it!” His voice got more excited the more he talked of his discovery.

 

She looked up at him in shock, “You know Jyushimatsu?”

 

“Of course I do! He’s my brother!”

 

“You’re Osomatsu, right?” She asked.

 

“Yeah! He talked about us?”

 

“Of course! He says you guys are doing stuff together all the time. In one way or another.”

 

“Do you know where he is?” Osomatsu cut straight to the point, if she didn’t know, he needed to start looking.

 

“No, I don’t. I’m sorry. Is he here?”

 

“He and the rest of those NEETs better be if they don't want me to kick their asses! We’re gonna find them. Let’s go!” He gave his signature smile and headed down the hallway. There seemed to be only one way to go at this point so they headed off towards the stairwell and downstairs to what they assumed was the first floor.

 

Osomatsu ran down the stairs, jumping the last four and surveying the area while Homura ran the rest. When she joined him at the bottom of the stair, the duo agreed to start looking around for anyone. They saw a large set of double doors across the hall and decided to look in their first.

 

Osomatsu opened the door carefully, peeking inside before opening the door the whole way to let them both inside. The room was fairly large, decorated with a large chandelier and a small stage in the far corner. Osomatsu assumed it to be some sort of ballroom. It was well lit and looked large enough to fit a small army. The one thing that bothered them, was the fact that each and every one of the windows had a large metal plate screwed onto it. It was like they didn’t want the light to get in or something. Now that Osomatsu thought about it, there was one over the window in the room he had woken up in too. He made a note to ask about that.

 

After they finished inspecting the ballroom, they left and moved across the hall. The door they chose to enter next was labeled “laundry” so they could only assume it was a laundry room, but they chanced trying to enter it anyhow. The door was unlocked and they walked inside. It looked just like any old laundromat. The machines were probably a bit larger, and it didn’t appear as though you had to pay to use them, but it looked just like a large laundromat.

 

Moving to the next room beside the laundry room, it looked nearly identical to the bath house the brothers used back home and it threw Osomatsu off for a moment. After thoroughly inspecting the bath house or spa or whatever you could call it, they left and went to the end of the hallway where it branched off in two directions.

 

They took a chance and decided to head right down the new hallway. They came across a bathroom, a door labeled “Conference room 2” and a door labeled "Pool". The door to the conference room wasn’t locked either but the room was barren. Tables were set up facing the opposite side of the room, kind of like a school. Deciding that this room didn’t have anything of interest to them, or any signs of other life forms, they headed to the other end of the branched hallway.

 

Osomatsu grew angrier the more they searched and didn’t find anything. Where the hell were his brothers?! It was one thing not to find many people in a hotel actually using the services hotels offered, but where the fuck had his brothers even gone?! Osomatsu had nearly stormed down the hall to the door of the first conference room and almost tore the door off its hinges pushing it in. That’s when he noticed who all was in the room.

 

Karamatsu, Choromatsu, Todomatsu, Iyami, Chibita, Totoko, Nya-chan, Dekapan, Dayon, and two guys Osomatsu didn’t recognize stood in the room, looking quite shocked at the two new arrivals considering Oso had nearly knocked the door off its hinges.

 

“Osomatsu-niisan!” Karamatsu was the first to react as the three of his younger brothers in the room dashed over, glad to know their older brother was still in one piece.

 

“Where the hell have you assholes been, I’ve been looking everywhere for you! And where’s the other two, I’ve got someone here Jyushimatsu needs to see.” Osomatsu asked, bringing Homura forward slowly so she wouldn’t get too freaked out my how much he had been screaming.

 

“Osomatsu, is this who I think it is?” Karamatsu asked sounding quite shocked.

 

“You got that right Karaboy! This is Homura, the girl Jyushimatsu met back then!”

 

“Well Jyushimatsu and Ichimatsu left a little while ago to see if they could find anyone else, I’m honestly surprised you missed them.” Choromatsu added, “They should be back any minute though. There’s only two floors we can check. And the second floor only has everyone’s bedrooms on them. While the first floor has two conference rooms, a bath house or spa, a bathroom, a laundry room, and a ballroom.”

 

“We know. Homura and I looked in all of them except for the bathroom that is.” Osomatsu replied.

 

Before anyone could say something else, the door to the conference room burst open again and Jyushimatsu stood there along with Ichimatsu, a large smile on his face as he made his announcement. “We didn’t find anyone-” He cut himself off when his eyes fell on Homura. It was her! Was he dreaming? He didn’t think so. He wanted to pinch himself to be sure but he couldn’t even bring himself to move. He simply stood there in shock. When the two of them finally came out of their trance they ran towards each other, embracing tightly.

 

The other brothers had sworn that even though he smiled all the time, they hadn’t seen Jyushimatsu look that happy in a long time.


	3. The Game Begins

To anyone else in the room it might have only been a few long minutes, but to the two of them, it was like an eternity. They hadn’t seen each other in months so they wanted to enjoy this moment for as long as possible. When they finally pulled away Jyushimatsu quickly hugged his eldest brother as well, thankful that nothing had seemed to have harmed him beside him passing out just like the rest of them had.

 

Once Jyushimatsu had let him go as well Choromatsu announced that they should go over anything they had found out about the strange place they had woken up in.

 

“Obviously there’s two floors. The first floor has a lobby, an office that is locked, two conference rooms, a large ballroom, a laundry room, a pool, and a bathhouse. The second floor is shaped like a long hallway and only has bedrooms. The first floor has a bathroom and everyone has testified that there is a solo bathroom with a shower is inside their room.” Choromatsu began simply.

 

“Everyone present in this room has a room to themselves on the second floor.” Ichimatsu began. “The rooms are not different in color or shape. They’re basically the same. Each of the doors locks from the inside so no one can get in.”

 

“And there’s sixteen of us here in all!” Jyushimatsu finished the explanation.

 

So that’s what everyone had been up to while he slept.

 

“We still don’t know what to do about food, though,” Choromatsu stated. “There’s no sign of a kitchen anywhere and we don’t seem to have access to a third floor so we need to figure out what to do before we all starve.”

 

That was a good point. Humans could actually last weeks without food, but who knows what would happen with this group of people and not being allowed to eat. Or leave by the looks of things. Every window and door was boarded up with a large steel plate with giant bolts. Jyushimatsu had already tried to open several different plates several different times and was unsuccessful. If Jyushimatsu couldn’t do it, Osomatsu wasn’t sure anyone else in the room could.

 

“Okay so let’s start with proper introductions cause there's people in here I don’t know!” Osomatsu declared, looking at two of the men towards the back of the room, one of which Ichimatsu was beside. As if he knew him.

 

Ichimatsu answered for the man beside him surprisingly. “This is Toma. I met him and his girlfriend last Christmas, that’s how I know him. No one knows who the bald guy is, though.” The fourth brother added, pointing to the other man standing just off to the side.

 

The last man went to introduce himself when a loud noise ran over a speaker system in the room. The noise was a voice.

 

And a rather annoying voice at that.

 

“Oh good! You’re all already rounded up! Thanks for making my job easier! Stay right there! I’ll be with you in just a moment!” The voice announced

 

“What the fuck was that?” Ichimatsu spat.

 

“I’m not sure,” Choromatsu added, “But apparently they’re going to join us, whoever they are. Maybe they’ll have an explanation as to why we’re here.”

 

They didn’t have to wait long, because as soon as Choromatsu finished his sentence, the door to the room opened once again. It wasn’t a human that walked through however, instead it was a rather large looking dog. It looked weird though. It was all white on one side and all black on the other. It had one, bright, red eye that resembled a very nasty scar. It also did not have any fur. Any one of them would have instantly claimed it to be some kind of robot instead of an actual dog, but there was no way _ _this__  is what just spoke to them over the speaker.

 

“Hello there! I’m sure you’re all wondering why you’ve been gathered here!” The dog-looking creature announced, sounding incredibly excited.

 

“Among other things yeah. What the hell are we doing here?” Osomatsu stood his ground right away, quickly remembering what had happened to him and his brothers upon arrival to the hotel.

 

“Slow down there red!” The dog hopped up onto the table and walked to the opposite end so everyone would be able to see him they guessed.

 

“You have all been chosen to participate in the game! Isn’t that great?” The dog laughed.

 

“What kind of game, zansu?” Iyami was the next to speak.

 

“I am Monopuppy and you all will be participating in the game.” The dog spoke again.

 

Osomatsu was beginning to get impatient all over again. “He didn’t ask who you were, he asked what the game was!”

 

Monopuppy glared at him before smiling an evil grin that sent shivers down their spines. “Welcome to the Despair Hotel! A wonderful place where you will participate in a mutual killing game!”

 

Confetti seemed to explode throughout the room out of nowhere, but no one really seemed convinced.

 

“Mutual killing game?” Choromatsu asked.

“Of course, are you thick?! You all have clearly figured out that you’re trapped in here, well if you want to get out, you’re gonna have to kill to do it!” Monopuppy laughed again.

 

It appeared to slowly be sinking in for everyone when Monopuppy spoke up again, “You’ve all been equipped with an electronic hand-book that has all the rules that you must follow! Failure to follow the rules may result in punishment!”

 

“This is ridiculous!” The bald man from earlier shouted. “I will take part in no such game!” He was on the move before the last word had even left his mouth, heading straight for the robotic dog with raised fists.

 

As soon as his fist made contact, the dog flew off the table into the nearest wall, causing everyone to gasp. Monopuppy was up in seconds, letting out a crazed laugh. There were a few small beeps and Ichimatsu was the fastest to react.

 

“Get down! Now!” The fourth son shouted mere seconds before the robot exploded, sending shrapnel all throughout the room. When everyone was able to gain their bearings and stand again they noticed the man that had charged was no laying on the ground, heavily bleeding out from a head full of shrapnel.

 

“Follow the rules, or next time this might be you!” The dog laughed before vanishing into the dust, leaving a tower of tablets on the desk he had just been on.


	4. The Handbooks

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my lord I'm so sorry for how long it's taking to do chapters, but schoolwork has me super overloaded right now. Thanksgiving break starts the end of next week though so hopefully I'll get some time to write while on break!! Thanks again for being patient and let me know if there are any typos and stuff!

Tension was high as Ichimatsu stood up slowly and gave a signal that the dog was gone and they were not in any immediate danger.

 

“What the hell was that!?” Osomatsu shouted.

 

No one could answer, everyone struck with immense fright, being unable to speak as if their lips were glued shut. Everyone was petrified. Even Jyushimatsu and Ichimatsu, two of the sextuplets that could have been known to not react to something like a bomb going off, were stuck in their place looking over the destruction of the room, Jyushimatsu doing it while Homura clung to his side.

 

Choromatsu was the first to move, walking over to the man who’s name that no one knew and looked over it carefully. The bomb had technically been for him, obviously. His attention quickly went upward to the tablets sitting on the desk at the front of the room. All eyes were on him as he picked up the one with his name on it and started it up.

 

He went to the rules section, remembering that Monopuppy had said that if they didn’t follow the rules, they would be next, and he wanted to know which rule has been broken. When he finally found what he was looking for, he cleared his throat, “Rule 3, violence against Monopuppy will result in punishment.”

 

“S-so you mean to tell me the robot dog fucking exploded on him because he got hit?!” Ichimatsu shouted.

 

Choromatsu looked up, “It would seem that way. Let’s go and rest, we can meet up in the ballroom in half an hour to go over the rules and whatever else is in this handbook. Do not go anywhere by yourself, and take your handbook with you.”

 

“Who the hell put you in charge Fappymatsu?!” Osomatsu sounded just as pissed as the fourth son.

 

“Since I’m the one who looked at the dead guy first and I don’t want someone else to die right now so put your pride away for twenty seconds, grab your handbook, take Karamatsu and get out.” Choromatsu stated coldly.

 

Before Osomatsu could protest, the second born grabbed both his and his elder brothers handbooks and dragged him out of the room before he could cause any more tension to arise.

 

“Travel in pairs of two or more, do not go anywhere by yourself and if Monopuppy shows up again do not engage in any violent actions. The handbook has a clock on it so meet in the ballroom in half an hour.”

 

No one else rejected this time and slowly came up to get their handbooks before leaving the room. Choromatsu watched his three younger brothers, Homura, Toma leave together. Totoko and Nya-chan left together. Hatabou, Iyami, ad Chibita left together. This left Choromatsu, Dekapan and Dayon in the room alone.

 

Choromatsu asked Dekapan to perform even a rough autopsy of the body if he could and the large man agreed. He pulled gloves out of his pants, how much stuff did he keep in there? Choromatsu never wanted to know, but he watched carefully as Dekapan started working.

 

Meanwhile, the younger brothers group had all gone to Jyushimatsu’s room, which already looked like a disaster zone, and decided to try and clear their heads to make light of the situation they all had just found themselves into.

 

“Do you think Osomatsu-Niisan is okay?” Jyushimatsu asked.

 

“I don’t know, we all did just survive a bomb attack after all.” Ichimatsu was the only one willing to answer.

 

“We really are trapped here, aren’t we?” Toma was the next to speak up.

 

“Yeah. Jyushimatsu probably has the rawest strength out of anyone here and he couldn’t get any of the plates over the windows or doors to budge.” Ichimatsu added again.

 

“Why would someone even do something this ridiculous?!” Todomatsu couldn’t stop his voice from cracking as he shouted.

 

“I don’t know, the most we can do right now is try to keep calm and look over our handbooks I guess, so we know what will go on when everyone meets up again.” Ichimatsu answered a third time, getting sick of being the one answering everything.

 

Jyushimatsu nodded, noticing his older brother's discomfort. “Choromatsu-Niisan and Monopuppy mentioned that the rules were on this handbook, along with a map if I’m not wrong.” He mentioned, taking his own handbook out and powering it up.

 

“Let’s look at the rules first.” Jyushimatsu declared, pulling up the rules section of his own handbook. The quiet and calm version of Jyushimatsu honestly freaked his other brothers out, but at least he wasn’t doing something completely uncontrollable. The touch screen of each of the devices displayed the rules quite clearly.

 

 

Rules

  1. If participants wish to leave the hotel, they must kill someone and get away with it.
  2. Destruction of surveillance cameras or monitors will result in punishment.
  3. Violence against Monopuppy is prohibited and will result in punishment
  4. A trial shall be held after every murder.
  5. During the trials, if the killer is found out only they will be punished. If not, everyone who is innocent will be punished and the killer will be free to leave, having won the “game”!
  6. Night time is from 10 P.M. to 7 A.M. Some areas will be restricted during this time so please exercise caution.
  7. With these few rules, participants are free to roam in allowed areas as they so please!
  8. More rules may be added if necessary.



 

“This is insane, is this honestly happening?” Todomatsu asked once more, his voice sounding much weaker than it had earlier.

 

“If we refuse to believe it, we may be in even more trouble than if we do.” Ichimatsu stated quietly.


	5. What Should We Do?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hate that this chapter is so short! Ack! I'm sorry but I do hope you're enjoying the story!

The half hour the group spent apart seemed to go by a lot faster than anyone had expected. Before they knew it they were all gathering again in the ballroom to discuss their handbooks and a way forward in this mess.

 

Choromatsu and Dekapan stood at the front of the room once everyone had arrived. Choromatsu spared a glance at his older brothers and it looked as though Karamatsu had at least been somewhat successful in calming Osomatsu down. After Dekapan explained precisely what had caused the unnamed man's death, something most of them could guess and be reasonable spot-on with, they moved on to the subject of their handbooks.

 

“So has anyone actually started them yet?” Choromatsu asked and everyone from the younger brothers group had raised their hands.

 

“There’s a section explaining each of the rules, like Choromatsu pointed out earlier.” Toma stated.

 

“There’s also a clock and a participant section that has specifics for everyone here. Body type and specifics such as weight, eye color, hair color, which hand is dominant, there’s a lot of information on every single one of us.” Ichimatsu threw in.

 

“That’s about it, though!” Jyushimatsu concluded, “Should we read the rules?”

 

“Nah.” Ichimatsu answered before Choromatsu had a chance to.

 

“Alright then. Everyone should take some time later to look over the rules. There is a rule saying that nighttime begins at ten and that some areas are closed off during that time. I think we need to enlist our own rule and say that no one leave their room after ten. Can we all agree on that?” Choromatsu asked, hoping no one would argue. Thankfully everyone agreed on the proposal and they moved on.

 

“It’s starting to get late. We should all head to our rooms to rest and meet up here again in the morning, hopefully we’ll be able to find some kind of food then.” Choromatsu added again and everyone was off to head up to their rooms in one giant group.

 

The night seemed to be incredibly long for everyone in the group. The rooms were all eerily quiet and the sextuplets couldn’t remember the last time they hadn’t slept in the same futon together. No one could sleep, afraid that of the nightmares that could come from the experiences of the previous day. It was disastrous for everybody.

 

One by one they all started to gather in the ballroom the next morning, everyone looking just as exhausted as whoever came in before them. If Choromatsu had to describe it, he would say everyone, himself included, looked like complete shit. None of them had slept, or at least hadn’t slept for very long, and whatever sleep they did get was plagued with nightmares.

“Clearly no one slept well, but we need to take another look around and try to find food or our lack of sleep won’t be the only problem besides murder.” Choromatsu announced once everyone had arrived.

 

The group simultaneously grumbled and stood up, leaving in the same groups as the night before to search for something to eat. Everyone never expected to find anything. They searched for what felt like it could have been hours but was only mere minutes before they had searched the entire hotel and met back up outside the ballroom.

 

They were amazed when they opened the doors and found the entire ballroom had been converted into a large dining area with a feast fit for kings! Everyone shouted in surprise before dashing in to get something to eat as quickly as possible, none of them having eaten since arriving in this hell of a hotel they now called life.

 

They filled the tables, and their stomachs, each of them taking two or more plates full of food. That was when they heard the morning announcement. Something they expected was pre-recorded and they expected to hear every morning until they got the hell out of there. When they all finished they split off into different groups to kill as much time as they possibly could.

 

Which essentially resulted in everyone wandering around the halls aimlessly or even going back to their rooms to sleep some more. Everyone made sure they always had someone with them though. No one was ever completely alone. Even those who went back to sleep had someone they knew they could trust there just in any case of a situation. The same thing was on everyone’s mind: how were they going to get out of here, or how were they going to survive until they could leave.


	6. The First Motive

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm so sorry this took so long and I'm so sorry it's so short!

Two days passed with no activity and no sign of Monopuppy. Everyone was slowly getting set on edge that the robotic dog had yet to show itself again other than the recorded morning and night time announcements. Everyone had jumped in their seats when they heard his voice chime in over the intercoms asking them to come to the first conference rooms right after breakfast, for he had something important to tell them.

 

Everyone stood up one by one and they all walked over together. Tensions were high as they walked into the conference room to see Monopuppy sitting with a handful of envelopes. Once everyone was inside and the door had been closed the robot stood up to speak.

 

“So, I’m getting really bored. None of you are playing along with the game! So! I’ve come to give you all a ****motive****  to play!” The small dog laughed, holding up the envelopes. “Each envelope has a name on it. Inside is that person's deepest darkest secret written out for the world to see! If no murder occurs within three days, I’ll let the whole world know your secrets! Tick tock!” With that, the small dog seemed to vanish into thin air.

 

Everyone was left in a state of shock. Some screamed, others curled in on themselves. Most just sat there, locked in the thousand yard stare at the information they had just been told. This couldn’t be happening right? That’s impossible, isn’t it! There’s no way he could have dug up enough information about each of them to know their deepest darkest secrets! Right?

 

Wrong. This was all real. Very real. And nothing was just going to get them out of this situation. They needed a way out. They needed a way to stop this. But no one had the answer. One by one they all exited the conference room in pairs. Hoping no one would cause a scene already, not that anyone was in the right mood to harm anyone right now.

 

Everyone slept alone that night. It was as if any trust they had in each other had vanished instantly. No one slept, but it made them each feel better to spend the nights alone for now instead of with one or more people. Either way, it put less people in danger.

 

 

The next morning, Totoko was quick to announce that the girls wanted to have a day to themselves at the pool and that if she caught anyone peeping she’d saw them in half. No one bothered to question her, it was better to be whole than sawed in half and most of them wanted to try and find a way out anyway. Or at least stop every ones secrets from being released to the world without anyone dying.

 

The boys searched for a few hours, eventually having Homura join them, saying she had been too tired to keep goofing off for now. No one could really blame her. They all hadn’t exactly had the best sleep in the world given the situation. Though the search didn’t exactly turn up fruitful. Having checked all the doors and windows again, everyone trying to lend a hand in pulling the plates off and having none of them budge an inch. Maybe they were stuck here after all.


	7. The First Class Trial!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy crap it's been a while!! I apologize for the extremely long wait for this chapter. College and life make one a super busy person! But!!! I'm back and will keep working on this as best as I can! I hope you enjoy this chapter!

The duo walked back into the pool area, only to find that everyone had completely vanished from the area to do their own investigations. Dekapan appeared to be just finishing up his autopsy of the at idols body so what better time than now to find out what had killed her?

 

Ichimatsu strolled up to the doctor and started asking various questions about what had happened to her.

 

“Her main cause of death was all the water that had filled her lungs, there are signs of strangulation and signs that she struggled with her attacker. There are scratches and other marks that show signs of the struggle.”

 

“So we have one suspect but not enough evidence to prove it's her.” Ichimatsu thought aloud.

 

“You boys have a suspect already?” The doctor asked while rising to his feet, removing the latex gloves.

 

“If you can even call it that. We don’t have solid proof they did it, and if we don’t find some we’re all gonna end up like the fake cat lady.” Ichimatsu spat, turning to walk out of the pool area.

 

The investigation continued for a short while longer, only ending when a tune rang out from all the monitors with an announcement.

 

“The investigation is now over!! Please meet in the lobby to be escorted to the courtroom so we can have our first trial!!” Monopuppy’s voice rang from the speakers and everyone began the short walk to the lobby.

 

Once everyone had been gathered the portion of the floor with which they were standing began to get lower and lower, the room above it being closed off by what the participants could only assume was a replacement floor for the one they were currently standing on.

 

So this was what they would have to do? They were given motives to kill their closest friends or family and then have to figure out and hold a trial. A trial where if they choose wrong, that would end it all. Only one would survive at that point. They had to get this right, or they would die trying. It was time for their class trial.

 

The floor slowed to a stop in a circular room with high ceilings, large columns holding the roof up. In the center of the room, there was a circular set up that looked more along the lines of practice podiums someone might see at a high school debate. The closer they got, the clearer it became that there was one for each of them, including the now deceased Ms. Hashimoto. Monopuppy sat on a rather large set just away from the circle of podiums, waiting for everyone to take their places at the designated podiums.

 

Homura was the first to speak up once everyone had taken their places, “D-Did one of us really do it? Did one of us really kill her?”

 

The word “kill” hung in the air for a moment before Monopuppy nodded. “Yep! One of you is a killer! But will you get away with it?” Monopuppy let out with a laugh, “Let the trial commence!!!”

 

“Didn’t Todomatsu do it?” Totoko stated in a rather bland voice, choosing to stare at what was left of her manicure rather than at anyone else in the circle.

 

“Me?! Why would I have done it?!” Todomatsu got defensive and fast. The rest of the Matsunos looked nearly ready to strangle their long time crush for making such an accusation.

 

Totoko couldn’t help but roll her eyes, “Oh please, the motive was that we would have all of our secrets revealed, you’re like, the most known person here for keeping secrets, duh.”

 

Todomatsu bit his lip before answering again, “Yeah, so? I have a lot of things I wouldn’t want ANY of you to know! But most of it wouldn’t be worth killing for! And besides, why would I want to kill Nya-Chan anyway? The only thing I knew about her was that Fappymatsu ogled over her constantly. It’s not like I knew her on a personal level. I’d sooner kill one of my brothers before her.”

 

“Gee Totty, tell us how you really feel!” Osomatsu retorted.

 

“Everyone shut up. This back and forth shit is giving me a headache.” Ichimatsu shouted, causing everyone to stare. “Let’s start with the shit we actually know about what happened. Dekapan did a full autopsy, or as close to full as you can get trapped in a hotel.”

 

“There were signs that she struggled with her attacker, otherwise the Monofile is reasonably accurate. She died from drowning and she was strangled into passing out before hand. If my observations are correct she passed out seconds to minutes before death.”

 

Ichimatsu nodded. “This means she had at least one, possibly more attackers. There were two other people at the scene before the murder, Homura, and Totoko. Homura came by Jyushimatsu’s room to tell him where she was going and was back a half an hour later, even with help that’s not enough time to pull off a murder, especially if Nya-Chan had been struggling. Plus, it’s not like Homura to kill green-haired cat-ladies she doesn’t know. So it’s safe to say she is cleared of suspicion, agreed?”

 

Everyone nodded their heads.

 

“Okay, but that still leaves us with one suspect.” Choromatsu pointed out. “If there isn’t evidence to prove it's her, who’s to say she did it? What if someone else did it?”

 

“Calm down otaku, let the cat man continue! At least he’s getting us somewhere instead of some stupid back and forth!” Chibita snapped, causing Choromatu’s face to go bright red in embarrassment.

 

“Anyway, this leaves Totoko as our only suspect. Let’s stop again and look at what we actually know.”

 

The fish idol rolled her eyes but everyone watched closely to see what Ichimatsu would say next, making him a tad uncomfortable, yet he progressed.

 

“Her claim is that she left before Nya-Chan did, leaving cat-lady to swim laps by herself and claiming that the pool is apparently very good for swimming laps as well as goofing off. However, Todomatsu isn’t the only one here with a public image to keep up. Even if the secrets were still kept inside these walls, no one would trust six assholes that have terrorized the neighborhood since they were in elementary school with secrets that could possibly ruin their career. Not only this, Totoko is the only one here that could have a personal motive against Nya-Chan. Being rivals in the idol business she usually had her business stolen by cat-lady, so she held a personal grudge.”

 

After a few moments of silence, Totoko scoffed. “Please! You think that’s enough to convict me?! You don’t have any actual evidence to prove it!”

 

“Well, I’m sorry that we can’t exactly pull a professional crime lab out of our asses to prove you did it. No one else here has a motive for killing her specifically! So who do you suggest we convict then?” Ichimatsu huffed. “Don’t forget though, if we choose wrong only the killer gets to live so all of our lives are at stake here.”

 

They had a choice to make.

 

And all they could hope was that Ichimatsu was right.


	8. A Body has been Discovered!

Everything had been fine until Jyushimatsu and Ichimatsu had dragged Homura back to the pool to show them everything there, wanting to relax after using whatever strength they had to try and pull off the plates over the windows. An alarm rang and an announcement came on over the screens.

 

“A body has been discovered! After a certain amount of time, the ** **class trial****  will begin!” Was all the announcement had to say before chiming off and having the screen go black once more.

 

The three of them couldn’t even process what they had just heard. It was as though they were frozen in place. No one could move even after they heard the footsteps of everyone else heading their direction and bursting into the room to see what had happened. Nya Hashimoto floated in the water lifelessly. No one knew how long she had been there. Monopuppy showed up seconds later.

 

“Hello, everyone! I have something for you! I call it, the Monofile! It contains any basic information about the body. I know you aren’t professionals so I need to help you somehow right?” He laughed before leaving the small stack of files on the ground and disappearing once again.

 

“What kind of sick game is this?!” Osomatsu shouted Ichimatsu was the first to move and grab the file.

 

“It has her basic information. Height, weight hair color, eye color, etcetera. It also has other details. Cause of death is drowning, but it also says she was strangled into passing out before she died.” Ichimatsu read parts of the file aloud in case anyone was actually paying attention despite their shock. It may have been insensitive but they were supposed to be collecting evidence to use in a trial where one of them would be convicted and lord only knew what would happen if they chose incorrectly. So they needed to act quickly before their time period to investigate was over.

 

Jyushimatsu offered to go in and was careful in helping get the body out of the water for Dekapan to look over. Having the Monofile was a step, but having a highly trained doctor on their side was also important. The Monofile wasn’t going to point out the murderer for them in a neat bow so they needed to be thorough about everything. Including the body.

 

While Dekapan began his autopsy, the others began searching around for clues. Well, those who had recovered from their shock did anyway. Nothing about the pool seemed out of the ordinary, Jyushimatsu even took a big gulp of the water on accident and no abnormalities had occurred. It seemed as though both locker rooms were free to look in for the time being as well. Both locker rooms were completely clean of anything that could be considered evidence.

 

Ichimatsu seemed to be leading his own investigation, Jyushimatsu tagging along as his own personal helper. The two of the went off to find Totoko, her being the last known person to see Nya-Chan alive.

 

“What happened after Homura left the pool exactly?” Ichimatsu questioned after finding the girl in question just outside the pool.

 

“Nya and I stayed a while but I started getting tired too. I left for the shower and she was still in the pool swimming when I left.” The girl proclaimed, sounding really worried.

 

“What was she doing? It’s not like most people swim around alone.” Ichimatsu chimed, “Unless you’re Jyushimatsu that is.” The fifth born raised his head at the mention of his name but otherwise didn’t seem to be paying any attention to the conversation at all.

 

“She was swimming laps. It doesn’t look like it, but the pool would be a great place compared to other pools you may find at a hotel.” Totoko added, seeming to lose interest in the conversation quickly.

 

As the fish idol walked away it didn’t seem like they had gained any information. What little they could have would need evidence to back it up and Ichimatsu wasn’t sure he had evidence to back his assumptions up just yet. He was hoping the autopsy would be able to help him with that small problem. Just maybe he would figure this out if no one else was going to.


End file.
